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Category: Article

Kill the Finding Aid! Give the Public the Ability to Really Search our History

Posted on by Kristen Gwinn-Becker

At HistoryIT we believe that the information in archives is of great interest to broad groups of the public, not just professional researchers.

Yes, scholars know how to navigate archives in various states. They understand how to read finding aids that provide cursory high level or container information. They have the time and training necessary to use the finding aid to navigate a sea of material. The public has no patience for this, or much familiarity with how to do so. But they have much to learn and understand from engaging with these historical materials, and they want to engage.

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Why is digitization so expensive?

Posted on by Kristen Gwinn-Becker

At HistoryIT, we meet with a wide variety of organizations and institutions that are charged, either as their core mission or as one division of their entity, with caring for the historical records that tell the story of who they are, what they’ve accomplished, and what meaning is provided by their existence. We talk with them about how important these materials are and how, when they exist in a robust digital state, they will bring the parent organizations much greater value. We work with top-notch institutions and forward thinking organizations to build digital archives that are truly meaningful (by meaningful, we mean that are designed in such a way as to be easily searchable and sharable). In the course of this work, we daily encounter questions like:

Why is digitization so expensive?

Why can’t we just use our one or two scanners in the corner and a few interns or volunteers?

What’s wrong with the groups that will “digitize” our materials for ten cents a page?

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Let’s talk about the future of history

Posted on by Kristen Gwinn-Becker

People have been asking me to blog for a couple of years now. Like many of us, I’ve found the concept both intriguing and daunting. Yes, I have a lot to say, particularly about the world of technology and history. No, I don’t think I have the time to cram one more thing into my already overcrowded day. What is it that finally unearths the realization that I must begin blogging and I must do so today? There are just too many exciting – and critical – issues to address that relate to our ability to access and make sense of our history.

Sure, it seems like history is pretty much a staid thing. It’s been around since, well, something historical occurred, and it isn’t going anywhere. Yet, few of us have seen behind the curtain into the world of historical records and understand that what exists back there is fundamental to our greater understanding of who we are.

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